Rodney D. Bennett abruptly resigned as chancellor of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln after a year of contested budget cuts and a Faculty Senate no-confidence vote tied to proposals to eliminate academic programs. Bennett had been tasked with closing a $48 million deficit and defended cuts that faculty said were rushed and lacked meaningful consultation. The university installed interim leadership as it navigates the fallout. The departure fits a pattern: higher education reported roughly 9,000 job cuts in 2025 as institutions tightened budgets amid policy uncertainty and enrollment pressures. Administrators face hard choices between rebalancing academic portfolios and preserving faculty governance; the Nebraska case illustrates how those decisions can accelerate leadership turnover and damage campus trust.